Speech: General Sir Nick Carter

It is a tremendous honour to share this very special day with you and all your families. …..in this your 70th year as the independent army of a sovereign country. It is a proud day and it is has been a fine parade. You have displayed outstanding precision and panache….you were immaculate.

I know that the pride etched on the faces of all of you stood on the parade square today is mirrored in the other faces in this audience. Not least your instructors, who recognised in you that spark of potential…that fighting spirit…those qualities that make a soldier and shape a leader…and who enabled you to get where you are today.

And your families and friends whose love and support have fortified you – and who will continue to be a source of strength.
And your international friends are proud of you too. For in a world with global problems no country is able to address all the challenges alone. Strong alliances and partnerships are more important than ever in preventing conflict, building stability and strengthening the rules-based international order.
And friends we are…
….our two Armies have a long and resilient relationship built on mutual respect and understanding. We have much shared history. Pakistan’s soldiers proved themselves brave and valiant time and again when we fought side by side in the two World Wars – one only has to look at the tally of gallantry medals and battle honours awarded to be reminded.

While our soldiers and officers may have different backgrounds and different faiths, they are united by the same values and standards of courage, discipline, respect, integrity, loyalty and selfless commitment – we may use different words for them, but the effect is the same.

And they share the same hopes – for a secure and prosperous world in which we, our children and future generations can continue to live according to our belief in tolerance, freedom, justice and the rule of law.

You start your career in this honourable profession – the profession of arms – in demanding times. The character of conflict is changing and the operating environment is increasingly uncertain, complex and dispersed. Leadership has never been more challenging and the responsibility of being a leader has rarely been so profound.

But our Values and Standards as soldiers set us apart from other occupations and, often, from our enemies. They are the basis on which we commit ourselves unreservedly to the Service of our respective nations.

For those graduating, today represents a significant moment – it is about celebrating what you have accomplished so far. But it is also about the anticipation of what you can accomplish in a lifetime of selfless service.

You are about to accept a great responsibility to lead soldiers – an honour that demands unfailing competence, commitment, and character each and every day.

As officers, you have been selected, individually, to lead your fellow countrymen in battle in defence of the values you hold dear. And your country can do you no higher honour. Whatever happens to you, whatever rank you achieve, whatever honours are showered on you, you will never have a greater compliment paid you than that.
And, in return for that honour and that trust, you, when you go out from here, will live up to the traditions of leadership. However far your careers take you, always remember, where you started.

In the years ahead, your soldiers will look to you, for guidance and inspiration. They will want to know that you care for them, and for their families. They will model their behaviour on your integrity. They will get their courage from your steadfastness. Leadership is about getting people to do things – and getting them to do things willingly. And in the Army, it will be in situations of great personal danger. When your nation will be relying on you. Military capability and tactical brilliance will always be essential but they will not alone suffice. What qualities then must a leader have if he is to secure this willing acceptance of what he wants?

First – Courage. All soldiers must be prepared to use lethal force to fight. They may need to show restraint, even when doing so involves personal danger. This requires physical courage, and soldiers will depend on each other for it.
And there is another kind of courage you need as an officer. You must have moral courage. Moral courage is a much rarer thing than physical courage. Moral courage means you do what you think is right without bothering very much what happens to you when you are doing it – insisting on maintaining the highest standards of decency and behaviour – even when it may be unpopular, or risk ridicule or danger. Courage – both physical and moral – creates the strength upon which fighting spirit and success in the fight depend.

Second – Integrity. Integrity has a unique significance to soldiering and is an essential ingredient of good leadership. You have got to be honest, not only with yourself but with the men you lead and the people with whom you work. Honesty and integrity are things that you cannot compromise with – you cannot alter; it is the critical foundation for earning the loyalty and trust of those you lead and those you serve. It is about doing as you would be done by. And the standard you walk past without taking action is the standard that you accept – and how you will be judged.

Third – Judgment. The next quality that I wish to mention is judgement. You have got to have judgement. You have got to be able to assess a situation, and assess it quickly as judged against your values, and under difficult circumstances. And judgement is only learned by practice and experience.

You may face action day after day, week after week, virtually alone, with only your consciences as monitors. You will rely on your integrity and your judgment – especially on today’s dispersed battelfields where it is the quality of junior leadership which will count.

Fourth – knowledge and understanding. If you are to have the courage to take the initiative, to produce the will-power that is needed, you must have knowledge. And that is often the challenge of leadership – to keep the balance between strength of will and flexibility of mind. Keep your mind bright and flexible. If you command a small unit, a platoon or section you ought not be satisfied until you can do every task which you order each man in your small unit to do, as well as he can, if not better….. ……and, by the way, the command of a platoon is, I think, the best command you will ever have. I have commanded everything from a section of half-a-dozen men to the entire British Army, and I still look back to the time when I commanded a platoon as the best command I ever had….

You have also got to have a different type of knowledge that is at least as important, if not more important – a knowledge of your men. It is not enough that you are the best soldier in your unit, that you are the strongest, the toughest, the most resilient, and the most intelligent. You must be their leader, their mentor even if you are half their age.
That cultivation of human understanding between you and your men is the one art that you must yet master – but it is the understanding you have of your men on which great soldiering depends.

Know your job and know your men.
There are many other qualities that make a good leader. But these are the four I would wish to share with you that have served me well – courage, integrity, judgment and knowledge and understanding.

There is no man on this parade square who has not got these qualities. If you had not got them you would not be here. So by standing here today you have earned the right to be officers. And leaders of the next generation.

It is up to you now to invest in those qualities, nurture them and keep them close. Remember that good leadership is not imposed like authority. It is actually welcomed and wanted by the led. It is up to you to give your units – whether it is a tank crew, platoon, or becomes a company – leadership, every hour of the day, every day of the week.
Then you will be doing your duty and you will be worthy of the honour that your country does you by choosing you as a leader in this fine Army.

I will leave you with a last thought. There are many things I have learned throughout my service, but it was in the early years that the simplest proved to be the most important to me. And that is that soldiering is nothing without comradeship. It surrounds a man with an atmosphere of warmth and strength at the very moment when he is feeling cold and weak. It encourages his finest instincts, and the demands of friendship serve to strengthen him in battle.

So if I could have my wish as I stand here today, feeling honoured as I do in the tribute paid me, I would say this: If I could only meet you all somewhere in the future, with the world more stable due to friendships like ours, and our Armies standing side by side in comradeship.

So as you go, you go with all our hopes and prayers but also with our confidence that each one of you is ready to write the next chapter in your life – and the next chapter in your nation’s history.



Notice: WD6 3BL, Reviva Composting Limited: environmental permit issued

The Environment Agency publish permits that they issue under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).

This decision includes the permit and decision document for:

  • Operator name: Reviva Composting Limited
  • Installation name: Elstree Hill South
  • Permit number: EPR/FP3699LC/V002


Notice: PE22 9EL and PE22 8DW, A R Craven Farms Limited: environmental permit issued

The Environment Agency publish permits that they issue under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).

This decision includes the permit and decision document for:

  • Operator name: A R Craven Farms Limited
  • Installation name: Craven North and South Poultry Unit
  • Permit number: EPR/MP3436DR/A001


Detailed guide: Register land you use to keep livestock

Updated: Get a permanent CPH number section amended.

You must have a CPH number if you keep livestock (kept as part of a business or as pets). Livestock includes:

  • bovine animals (cattle, bison and buffalo)
  • pigs
  • goats
  • sheep
  • deer
  • poultry (if you have 50 or more birds)

This guidance is for land in England. Contact Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, if you use land in these countries.

Holding: meaning and the area it can cover

Livestock holdings describe the land and buildings that people use for keeping livestock, including livestock kept as pets. Each holding has a unique CPH number. A livestock business may have more than one holding and CPH number.

A single livestock holding can cover the land and buildings within 10 miles of its main livestock handling area, for example:

  • a farmyard
  • your home (if you keep livestock as pets)

Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) use of ‘holding’

The word ‘holding’ has a different meaning in BPS. Under BPS rules, a holding is all the land and buildings you use to keep livestock, which could include more than one CPH.

Register to record and report

You must have a CPH number to comply with the rules on recording and reporting livestock movements. Government uses these numbers to track the location and movement of livestock to prevent and control disease.

A permanent CPH number covers land you’ll use for more than a year. A temporary CPH number (tCPH) covers the use of land up to a year. If the land you plan to use for keeping livestock doesn’t have one of these numbers, you must register it.

Movements can include:

  • taking livestock to sell at market
  • transporting livestock to and from a show
  • moving livestock to and from a different farm
  • bringing livestock into your home to keep as pets

It’s an offence if you don’t comply with the rules on recording and reporting livestock movements.

Get a permanent CPH number

If the land you use doesn’t have a CPH number, you must get one from the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) before moving livestock onto the land.

You’ll be breaking the law if this is not done within 30 days of first moving livestock onto the land.

Contact the RPA using the Defra Rural Services Helpline on 03000 200 301. Find out about call charges.

Information you’ll need

Tell the RPA:

  • your correspondence address and postcode
  • if you own or rent the land – if you rent it, you’ll need to say if you’ll have use of it for more than a year
  • your contact details
  • business name
  • business activities
  • single business identifier (SBI) – if you’ve got one
  • the OS map reference for your main livestock handling area – if this is different from your correspondence address

Update your permanent CPH details

Tell RPA if there are any changes to the information you gave when you registered your holding. This includes when you:

  • stop keeping a particular species at that location
  • transfer the ownership of part or all of your holding
  • take over another holding
  • add land to your holding

You must tell RPA about these changes within 30 days of them taking place or you’ll be breaking the law.

Contact the RPA using the Defra Rural Services Helpline on 03000 200 301. Find out about call charges.

Add land to your permanent CPH

You can do this if:

  • you own the land, or have use of it for more than one year
  • it’s within 10 miles of your main livestock handling area

Contact the RPA using the Defra Rural Services Helpline on 03000 200 301. Find out about call charges.

Use land or buildings outside your permanent CPH

If you plan to use additional land or buildings, you must make sure they have a CPH number.

Where your livestock will mix with someone else’s

You may plan to move your livestock off your CPH to land or buildings where they’ll mix with livestock kept by someone else. If so, you’ll need to record and report the move to the CPH that covers that field or building.

The holder of the CPH you moved your livestock to must:

  • report the movement of livestock onto their CPH
  • record the movement in their holding register
  • comply with the rules on the movement of livestock known as ‘standstill restrictions’
  • keep the passports of cattle or movement documents for other species reported on their CPH

Where your livestock won’t mix

If your livestock won’t mix with other livestock in the land or buildings you plan to use, you must do one of the following before you move them:

Standstill restrictions

If livestock (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs) arrive on your land from a different CPH, you must not move:

  • sheep, goats or cattle off your holding for 6 days
  • pigs off your holding for 20 days if a pig moves onto your land
  • pigs off your holding for 6 days if cattle, sheep or goats move onto your land

You can move livestock off your land during the ‘standstill’ time if you’re moving them direct to slaughter. This includes to a red (slaughter only) livestock market.

Temporary land associations (TLAs) in England

A temporary land association (TLA) associates your permanent CPH with land or a building that’s within 10 miles of that CPH’s main livestock handling area.

The land or building will be treated as part of the permanent CPH it’s associated to. This means that:

  • you don’t need to record or report livestock movements between that land and the rest of your CPH
  • you must record and report any livestock movements to that land from a different CPH against your permanent CPH
  • standstill restrictions won’t apply when moving livestock between that land and the rest of your CPH
  • standstill restrictions will apply when you move livestock to a different CPH, on all the land it covers, including any land associated to it with a TLA
  • all land covered by a CPH, including any associated to it by a TLA, will be treated as part of that CPH for disease testing and restrictions

A TLA lasts up to 1 year but you can renew it before it ends.

Check you can apply for a TLA

You can apply for one or more TLAs between your permanent CPH and land or buildings you use to keep livestock if all the following apply:

  • you’re a registered livestock keeper
  • any part of the land or building you want to associate with your permanent CPH is within 10 miles of that permanent CPH’s main livestock handling area
  • your livestock won’t mix with livestock kept by someone else on that land or in buildings
  • the land or buildings are in England or Wales
  • for permanent CPHs that are registered for keeping bovine animals, any land or building you associate to it with a TLA must be in the same bovine TB risk area as that CPH

Temporary county parish holding (tCPH) numbers

For livestock movements, a tCPH is treated as a separate CPH to any other CPH you hold. This means that you must:

  • keep a separate holding register for your tCPH
  • keep livestock reported as being on your tCPH separate from those reported as being on any other CPH
  • record and report livestock movements between your tCPH and any other CPH
  • follow standstill restrictions when you move livestock between your tCPH and any other holding
  • keep hold of any identification documents (including cattle passports) for livestock you move to your tCPH, as you are still their keeper

A tCPH will share a flock or herd mark with your permanent CPH. This means that you:

  • don’t need separate ID tags for animals kept on a tCPH
  • must use your permanent CPH number when you order replacement tags or tags for newborn animals

A tCPH lasts up to 1 year but you can renew it before it ends.

Check you can apply for a tCPH number

You can apply for a tCPH number if all the following apply:

  • you’re a registered livestock keeper
  • you have an English or Welsh permanent CPH number
  • the land and buildings are in England or Wales
  • the land and buildings are all rented from the same person
  • the land and buildings are not in more than one permanent CPH
  • all the land and buildings are within 10 miles of the place you’ll gather animals on the temporary holding

Apply for a TLA or tCPH

You need to download and complete an application form.

For each piece of land you want to include in your application, you must give one of the following:

  • a 12 character ordnance survey (OS) grid reference
  • a parcel identification number (parcel ID)

You must give an OS grid reference for each building you want to include.

APHA aims to process applications within 10 working days. It may take longer if:

  • your application is inaccurate
  • the form is incomplete
  • APHA needs to carry out a bovine TB veterinary risk assessment

Update your TLA or tCPH details

You must tell APHA when:

  • there are any changes to the information you gave in your application
  • you stop using any of the land or buildings to keep livestock

Contact APHA using the Defra Rural Services Helpline on 03000 200 301. Find out about call charges.

Bovine TB testing and tCPHs

Usually, you must follow the routine bovine TB testing interval for the bovine TB risk area that applies to your tCPH. The exception is when your tCPH is in the low risk area and your permanent CPH is in the high risk or edge area. Then you must follow the testing interval for the permanent CPH.

Different testing intervals can apply if your tCPH is in the high risk area and your permanent is in the low risk area. In these cases, APHA may ask you to carry out bovine TB testing on your permanent CPH more often than once every 4 years. This will depend on the number and frequency of livestock movements between your permanent CPH and your tCPH.

Your tCPH will be tested at the same time as your permanent CPH wherever possible.

bovine TB breakdown

If you have a breakdown, you’ll have movement restrictions on all your CPHs and tCPHs that are registered for bovine animals.

The restrictions will only be lifted following testing or a veterinary risk assessment.



Research and analysis: Radioactivity in food and the environment 2016: RIFE 22

This report covers sampling and analysis carried out in 2016 for the UK-wide monitoring programmes of the environment agencies (Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, Northern Ireland Environment Agency and Scottish Environment Protection Agency), the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland.

It provides a detailed assessment of radioactivity in food and the environment and the public’s exposure to radiation during 2016.

The report shows that radioactivity in food is well within safe levels, and that exposure to the public from permitted discharges and direct radiation around nuclear sites remained below the legal limit.

The monitoring programmes conducted by these agencies are independent of, and also used as a check on, site operators’ programmes.